USE OF WEST COAST COAL

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28529, 7 March 1958, Page 26

USE OF WEST COAST COAL

Ministers Discuss Possibilities (From Out Own Reporter) WESTPORT, March 6. The Government was investigating the establishment of a coal utilisation project which could be built on the West Coast of the South Island and it was hopeful of opening up overseas markets for coal which would benefit the district if they materialised, the Acting Prime Minister (Mr Skinner) and the Minister of Mines (Mr Hackett) told representatives of local organisations at a meeting on Tuesday evening. Mr Skinner said that the Government had started investigations into a utilisation project and had been interested in a scheme in Holland which made for the use of ammonia from such a works in extracting potash from sea water. He added that if such works could be utilised in New Zealand the Government would not be reluctant to act. Already it had decided to send experts overseas to study such works and see if they were practicable in New Zealand. The immediate solution to the problem in the coal mining industry was to build up a good export trade, Mr Skinner said. He recalled the poor methods which were used when trial shipments were sent to Japan from Westport in 1952. “I went to Yokohama then and was shocked to see the kind of coal which was shipped to that country,” he said. “I feel, however, that we can build up a fairly substantial trade with Eastern countries and the Government is exploring every avenue for opening up overseas markets, although handicapped by heavy freight charges compared with another big exporting country.”

Mr Hackett said that there was a possibility of the establishment of an industry to work the iron sands of this Dominion and a steam power station might come as a subsidiary to such works. It was possible that the West Coast would benefit from such a move but it was a question of interesting overseas capital such as that which had floated the cement works project at Cape Foulwind. It would take from £25,000,000 to £35,000,000 to set the iron sands scheme under way, and that money was not yet in the offing, Mr Hackett said.

The suggestion that the people of the Buller would be disappointed at no announcement being made by Mr Hackett, as expected, to boost the coal trade in the district, was made by a member of the Westport Borough Council, Mr D. J. Sullivan. “I am one Cabinet Minister out of 16 and it would be insane for me to give a definite decision on any project such as a coal utilisation plant until we hear the reports of the experts. But I believe that, after hearing such reports there will be good grounds for the establishment of such an industry,” Mr Hackett said. Mr Skinner said he was confident that New Zealand would get an export market for its coal. He knew that some countries definitely wanted it.